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Wealth
Unlike a normal campaign, living worlds are predicated on a lot of downtime. This can lead to characters gaining an undue amount of wealth. Pathfinder was designed for characters of a certain level to have only so much gear at that level. Putting limitations on the amount of wealth a character can achieve in downtime has been fraught with exploits and loopholes that meant some characters could become far more powerful than others, and disrupt sessions. So instead, the following Item Level, Consumable Slots, and Miscellaneous slots systems have been devised. Item Level Items are powerful things that add a great deal to a character. Having a +5 sword is an increase to a fighter's strength. The default means of handling this balance is built into Pathfinder with Wealth by Level, and specific charts designed to give characters gold for every encounter. As stated though, a character in Fiend's Reach can achieve far more money by building up a downtime business or crafting magical gear for sale. So instead, Item Level is a rule system that directly puts the limitations of Wealth by Level onto what a character can use. Every magical item is assigned an Item Level based on it's price. The level of an item is equal to the level of a character who would spend 50% of their WBL on said item. Mundane equipment whose value is equal to or less than 1,000 gp is always considered Item Level 1 and does not factor into the Item Level of a magically enchanted version of said item. Equipment whose value exceeds 1,000 gp is added into the price of any enchantments to determine it's Item Level. Potions, Scrolls, and Staves use a different formula for the most part. Instead, their Item Level is equal to their Caster Level. Wands have an Item Level equal to their Caster Level + 1. If these items are created using spells with expensive material components that would bring their prices to a higher level, instead use the item's price to determine its Item Level. Magical Plants don't use their full price for determining their Item Level, but instead each piece of fruit or seed that the plant creates is considered a potion (with a price of 50 x Spell Level x Caster Level + Expensive Material Components). Slotless Wondrous Items and Rods that replicate spells have a minimum Item Level equal to their Caster Level. Worn items with a limited number of charges per day must be worn for 24 hours before they can be used. The below table indicates what prices fall into which Item Levels, as well as a list of some of the most common example items at those levels. A character cannot use items that are of a higher Item Level than their ECL. When a character attempts to wield such items, they find that the magic is weakened; their soul just isn't powerful enough to control such strong magics. For example, a level 6 character who finds a +3 flaming burst longsword would find that in their hands it's not nearly so potent. They can chose which properties continue functioning, either wielding it as a +2 longsword, or a +1 flaming longsword. As they level up and can access more of the magic in the item it gets more powerful in their hands until finally it works at its full potential at 12th. To change which abilities the item manifests in their possession, a character can focus on the item over a 24 hour period, after which the item manifests the chosen properties. Item Creation Feats and Item Level Characters can craft items of any level, so long as they meet the requirements to craft the item and can make the appropriate skill checks. In addition, a character who is wielding an item that they themselves created count as 1 level higher for determining how powerful of an item they can wield. For example, a level 5 character with the Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat crafts a +2 rapier. The Item Level for a +2 rapier is 6th, so normally the character would not be able to wield said weapon. But since they are the one that crafted the item, they count as a 6th level character and thus can use it without issue. Consumable Slots Buying individual items of great power is not the only way that an unreasonable amount of wealth can go astray. A character with an unlimited amount of wealth can easily purchase thousands of different scrolls of different spells and be prepared for any scenario that comes up. Each individual scroll might have an Item Level well within a character's bounds, but by purchasing 5 scrolls of each spell out there, there will rarely be a scenario that the character can't account for. Not only does this make them more powerful, it reduces the significance of another character who carefully selected their spells for the day, and which consumables to pick up. So the Consumable Slots system is in place. Characters have a limited number of different consumable spell effects that they can attune to in a day. The lowly farm hand's soul might only be able to handle potions of cure light wounds whereas the hardened adventurer might have 10 different varieties of potions, scrolls, or wand that they can use in a day. A character has a number of Consumable Slots equal to their ECL. With 1 hour of preparation they can fill any number of these Consumable Slots. When a slot is filled, a character selects one specific potion, scroll, wand, or a single spell from a staff. Throughout the rest of the day, they may use or pass on any number of potions, scrolls, staves, or wands, so long as the item matches one of their filled slots. After a night's rest (enough time for a spellcaster to recover their spells), these slots can be filled with different magic items. For exampe, a fighter and a wizard find a potion of cure light wounds on the street before meeting at Douglas's for a job. The fighter doesn't have that potion attuned to any of his Consumable Slots, so he couldn't drink the potion. The wizard on the other hand does have potions of cure light wounds attuned to one of her Consumable Slots, so she can drink the potion just fine. However, she could also give or administer the potion to her fighter ally since she can share with him items that she has attuned to. Spellcasting services can also be attuned to Consumable Slots so long as the caster level of the spell does not exceed your ECL. Without attuning a spell to one of your Consumable Slots the spell expires when you attend a session unless the caster is also attending the session. Characters with item creation feats get an additional number of Consumable Slots equal to 3+1/2 ECL for each feat that can only be filled with items that they themself crafted. For example, a 3rd level wizard with the Scribe Scroll and Craft Wand feats would have 3 Consumable Slots she could use with any consumable or charged item she pleases, as well as 4 slots for her crafted scrolls and 4 slots for her crafted wands. So she might chose to take with her 2 scrolls of bless, 3 oils of magic weapon, and a wand of cure light wounds in her general Consumable slots, then 25 scrolls of bladed dash, 3 scrolls of blindness/deafness, 6 scrolls of blur, and 1 scroll of callback that she spent the past few days crafting. She would also have up to 4 different wands she could attune to, so long as she also crafted these. Miscellaneous Slots Consumable slots addresses the issue of having a large variety of spells. But similarly there are items that don't take up body slots which can be taken over and over, as well as items that are cheap because they are meant to be consumed. This issue isn't the same as having a huge amount of different spell effects, so it uses a similar but separate system. Characters have a number of Miscellaneous Slots equal to their ECL. They assign these slots when they go to a session, so they can use items outside of a session with as much frequency as they'd like. A character uses their Miscellaneous Slots to have access to one of the following different kinds of items: * Mundane Consumables: A character can fill a Miscellaneous Slot with a mundane consumable that provides a specific beneficial effect (such as a drug) when consumed. They may take any number of doses of a mundane consumable that fills one of their Miscellaneous Slots. A character may still suffer from the effects of a mundane consumable such as a drug or poison even if they did not fill one of their Miscellaneous Slots with said consumable. Mundane consumables that are used as weapons (such as most poisons), do not need to fill a Miscellaneous Slot to be used on enemies. The benefits of these consumables immediately end when a character attends a session but does not assign a Miscellaneous Slot to them. * Magic Items: Magic items that don't take up a body slot, are kept on a character's person, and don't need to be wielded like a tool take up Miscellaneous Slots. Items that would require the 'retrieve a stowed item' action to be used do not take up Miscellaneous Slots, nor do items that by their sheer size aren't considered "on a character's person". The benefits of these magic items immediately end when a character attends a session but does not assign a Miscellaneous Slot to them. ** A Lantern of Revealing needs to be wielded to be used. This would not take up a Miscallaneous Slot. ** A Chest of the Mercane ''is so large and cumbersome that it cannot be said to be on a character's person. This would likewise not take up a Miscellaneous Slot. ** A ''Runestone of Power however does not need to be drawn and wielded (at least no more than the action required to cast the spell) and thus it does take up a Miscellaneous Slot. ** All Ioun Stones require a Miscellaneous Slot for each stone. * Spell Components: A character can attune a Miscellaneous Slot to a specific extra material spell component (such alchemical components or esoteric material components),. They may use as much of that component as they like in any number of spells that they cast so long as it is attuned to one of their Miscellaneous Slots. Material components that are required for casting the spell (such as what can be found in a spell component pouch or the 25,000 gp diamond required for a wish) do not take up any slots. Any ongoing spell effect that benefits from an extra component immediately ends when a character attends a session without assigning that component to a Miscellaneous Slot. Category:Rules